I’ve been disappointed that our last few stories about Magic Mike haven’t seen much of a response, but I’m hoping that it’s only because perhaps ladies are tired of Matthew McConaughey even though he doesn’t need a stunt butt to fill out his assless chaps. After all, the film’s trailer went over fairly well. Also, this story is about Joe Manganiello, who was quite popular last time we covered him for a discussion of his wolfie butt cheeks, and I nearly swooned when he appeared in fireman gear and carried Elizabeth Banks offstage at the MTV Movie Awards last week. So bring it this time, ladies.

Now on with the show. Manganiello covers the July issue of Men’s Health UK to promote his role as stripper “Big D*ck Richie” in Magic Mike. Naturally, there are several pictures in the magazine that show Joe sweating and grunting through various workout moves. I’m not complaining at all about these photos. Here are some interview excerpts:

On the return of men with real muscle: “[It's] a recent trend. I got to LA in 2000, when we were coming off the ’90s: women looked like men and the men all looked like women. I was constantly being told, “You’re too healthy.’ So there were four years where I essentially didn’t work as an actor. I left the business and worked in construction for a masonry company: getting up at 6am, shovelling sand and mixing cement till 4pm in the back of a truck with four guys. And I got ‘hillbilly’ strong. I was staying at my friend Armie Hammer’s house and his mother wouldn’t stop feeding me. We just ate and ate and went to the gym to lift these massive weights. Every time we went to the gym it seemed like I had gained 5lb. I just said ‘to hell with it’ and I got huge.”

On how things have changed: “In a couple of years I’ve gone from not working to a point where people are writing roles for bigger guys. I think we’re seeing a return to ‘the Man.’ People come up to me and say they miss having those silent tough guys such as Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. You’ve still got to be able to act and emote but you also have to fit the role physically, and that physique is now lean and muscular. Think about ancient Greece: equal part athletics, equal part philosophy. I think we’re getting there: the best of both worlds.”

On Magic Mike: “The tone is very similar to Boogie Nights, so it’s like a fraternity of scumbags who are having fun. We all knew that something special was happening when we made this film, it was so hysterical. We were rolling around on the ground laughing trying to crack each other up, man-handling groups of 200 female extras every day. There are guys who are going to divorce their wives after they see what they did as extrs in this movie.”

Was there competition from his co-stars to look good: “Not really — it was more the fact that we all had to be shirtless pretty much every day for two weeks, which gets to be tricky. When you’re shirtless one or two days a week — which is how it works with ‘True Blood’ — you can ramp up and ranp down the intensity of training. when you’re shirtless every day, there’s no let up. We basically spent every day working out for two weeks in a row. But it was worth it. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. One hundred per cent.”

So one gets the impression that there are no spray-on abs to be found in this movie, right? I sure hope not. At the very least, I am certain that none of the primary cast members — including Manganiello, Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, and (ick) Alex Pettyfer — have resorted to ab implants like a certain other movie star. As far as this interview goes, Manganiello seems to be humble as hell and very grateful to be successful in Hollywood, and he also seems like he’d be a lot of fun, if you know what I mean.

And yes, he’s very correct about the return of ‘the Man.” Thank goodness.

I do have to disagree with you here on your “generic” comment. There is nothing generic about 6’6″. And I like the fact that he hasn’t gone out and got his crooked nose fixed…to use your term, in order to have a generic looking nose.

I find this comment to be just plain rude. How is someone cocky when he gained his strength by doing REAL work! Not sitting with a personal trainer to make himself fit. He’s the realest person I’ve seen. He accepts his flaws.

Eastwood and McQueen? Really, how many decades ago was that? Too many. Joe is here, now and he’s too hot. He may very well be this generation’s Eastwood or McQueen, but for now, I am just enjoying the view!

I don’t think he’s comparing himself to any other actor. What he’s saying is that for a very long time, the It guys in Hollywood have been very metrosexual. Almost androgynous. Most certainly not the epitome of masculinity. And while you still see a lot of that, there is now a shift toward a more “macho” man. Men who work hard, sweat hard. A little rough around the edges. And look better in worn out jeans and a white t-shirt than a three piece suit.

“Joseph Michael “Joe” Manganiello is a classically trained American film and theatre actor. He holds a BFA in acting from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.”
ok so maybe diplomas and degrees mean little in the world of creative arts, but he does an adequate job for the role of Alcide. this isn’t hamlet, he’s doing well enough for the material he’s given.

I find his “real men has muscles” comments just as annoying as women who say “real women have curves”. Why can’t people accept that humans come in a variety of shapes; why must it be one narrow boxes of traits that people have to fit in replaced by another. What’s so “real” about practically living in a gym and eating all day? Maybe other guys have better things to do with their lives than count calories.
Plus, the guys he’s comparing himself to weren’t even that big. They were slender and fit, not beefcake types. What’s he talking about?

I agree that it takes all types, but I also agree with him that Hollywood swung too far in one direction. Post-Titanic, the “non-threatening” boy type was in (thankfully we seem to have dodged this post-Twilight), so I could see how guys like him had trouble. I think the Eastwood and McQueen comparisons are *ahem* ambitious of him, but they are the gold standard for the tough guy/non-pretty boy type. More importantly looking at those photos…damn…just…wow.

You’re right. Hollywood seems to choose one body/look type and glom onto it without accepting any other types. So I have sympathy for his plight in that regard. That doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t have to insinuate that a man that doesn’t have his body type wasn’t a “real man”. That’s insulting. Just like some women, no matter how hard they try, will never be a small as society deems acceptable/arttactive without engaging in dangerous behavior , some men will never be as muscular as he is because it’s just not possible without following a srtict and restricive diet, spending days at the gym, and steroids.

agreed, nobody should be forced into somebody’s ideal. plus we all come with different skeletons and muscle builds, not everybody can just work out or gain/lose weight to look like a greek god/hourglass figure/lanky mannequin or what have you. and thank goddess for that. i’d be bored as hell if everybody looked the same! the looks fascism needs to end. everybody is unique and therefore everybody has a different ‘type’ in their mind.

If a model or any woman had said/implied that “real women” spend all day exercising and not eating, not only would the intro title of this post had some reference to that quote, but the author of this article would have spent the entire posting taking about that one quote. Plus every commenter would have gone in on her/insulting her.

I’m into it…why not? I have never been into the pretty boy (blonde…blue eyed) lithe build anyway. Joe obviously works hard on his physique… I can respect that in a man or a woman. Yes, I think he is a bit smug and into himself because of his look but really, he is far more benign about it then many/most of Hollywood who are in love with themselves and their looks more then anything else in life.

P.S. Joe, the invitation still stands for a weekend at my beach house in South Jersey. Just let me know what works for you!

P.S.S. I’m still hot on Fassy too…Fassy, come for the weekend as well but call Joe before your trip and ask him were he got his jeans. Not that is how a man wears a pair of jeans!

Now Mina, what I meant using “pretty” was in the general “hollywood terms” as it has always been the blonde/blue eye (either female or male)…since you think I am stupid for using that reference it that way, let me rephrase, and I’ll start it with “I” again (since it is MY opinion) “I have never been into the stereotypical hollywood looking guy that is typically marketed”. Better?

He is a complete douche. Just like women who have nothing to offer but their bodies, he has nothing to offer but his muscles. There’s a reason most of his roles require him to be shirtless so often. He can’t act his way out of a paper bag.

As a True Blood fan I’m forced to listen to a lot of his drivel, and it’s all about going to the gym and how self-absorbed he is. Sorry Bedhead, you’re COMPLETELY wrong on his humbleness.

I really, really, really, really, really want to see Magic Mike. The trailer and some of the screen shots are killing me. Channing doesn’t look like he lost any of his stripper moves and Matt Bomer is just too beautiful. Sigh.

Any man who works out like he does is as “obsessed” about his appearance as a metrosexual occupied with his hair and clothing.

Good for Joe that he’s getting more roles, though I have yet to see him prove he can actually act well. Right now he’s just a muscle body, in the same way a woman with T&A is often cast as a “bimbo” or hot girlfriend.

He’s super sexy & isnt bad on TB. I don’t begrudge him being grateful for not having to starve himself to fit a slight body type that isn’t natural for him and many other actors like him. Nowhere in that excerpt does he say it’s all about “real men” just a certain type of man.

I didn’t really get the vibe he was trying to be insulting but the reality is the dainty little man has been popular for a while and I for one and glad the burly type is back in. I would rather look at him than Sparkles ANY DAY!

I agree with him about how women want to see more real men and not just the skinny sensitive type or the metrosexual type guys in movies. I personally think “the real man image” was part of Gerard Butler’s appeal in the movies.

Oh hey guess what? I am NOT gonna bitch about him gaining his muscles through actual work. Not having a nanny trainer make him do it! He didn’t do it for a part or any other than HIMSELF! He’s gorgeous and he loves himself for who he is!! Sorry if he isn’t a fat guy or girl! Jeez guys just stop being a hater and admire him or ignore him. Opinions are ok but negatives ones should be kept to yourself!

Uh, when he was first hired for True Blood he spent an entire year talking about how he would go to the gym all day specifically FOR the part. Because that’s how he thinks werewolves or whatever should look (they should also have body hair, but that’s another issue…)

I’m really surprised by all of the negative comments on this story. I agree with Bedhead in that I’m also happy for the return of The Man. I can’t see broody Leo D. or Sparkles getting a job in construction if their acting careers weren’t working out for them. Joe seems like a nice normal guy to me, and I’m happy for his success. I’m also happy that he’s shirtless so often!! More please

He looks damn good and I like him on True Blood. Beyond that I don’t really care how smart he is, he isn’t my doctor. We need our deep actors and we need our eye candy actors and I for one am a little tired of the metrosexual look in guys.

Calling a man ifeminete dosn’t make you manly,
Telling a woman that she isn’t a real woman unless she has curves dosn’t make you more womanly,
Calling someone fat won’t make you any skinnier,
Calling someone ugly won’t make you any prettier. Telling people all these things just makes you close minded and childish and just cruel. We tell our children that bullying is wrong and we don’t even realize that we do it ourselves. Isnt it time we set the example and stop judging others by the way they look? Or at least change our ideas of what makes a girl a woman or a boy a man?

Good body & love his height. However in his interviews he comes off as dumb as a box of rocks. Someone can have the best body in the world but if they don’t have brains, its a waste of a good body and a huge turn-off.

Men showing their chest is the same as the women posing half nude on covers. I don’t go to a movie just because a man has a nice body. So what. I have a good looking man at home whose body I see for free.

There has to be more. Just like for women. Not really interested in this film.